


turn down the heat

by fangirl_squee



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Firefighters, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:20:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28687791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_squee/pseuds/fangirl_squee
Summary: “If you cared about safety maybe you shouldn’t leave all these candles lying around,” said Fero.“It was an accident,” said Lem, irritation making its way up his throat.“Who lights candles by accident?”“I fell asleep by accident!” said Lem, “Of course I didn’t light them by accident!”
Relationships: Fero Feritas/Lem King
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	turn down the heat

It was an accident, obviously. Lem hadn’t  _ meant _ to fall asleep. He’d  _ meant _ to finish his reading, with candles to create an atmosphere for him to enjoy himself.

Instead, he created a small fire in his apartment.

He’d noticed quickly, but unfortunately not quickly enough to prevent his neighbour from calling the fire department. The firefighters were congenial about it, more amused than anything since Lem assumed the blackened corner of his apartment was hardly the level of destruction they usually faced.

Well. The firefighters were  _ mostly _ congenial.

“This whole place is a fire hazard!”

Lem turned, tilting his head down to take in the very angry man about his own age, scowling up at him, his helmet tucked under his arm.

“Excuse me?” said Lem.

“I mean,” continued the man, “look at this! There’s just stacks of paper everywhere-”

“That is my  _ work _ -” spluttered Lem.

“And these,” said the man, stepping over the pick up one of the blankets Lem had artfully draped over his couch, “these are  _ extremely  _ flammable!”

“Well I wasn’t planning to set them on fire,” said Lem, “they’re  _ decorative _ .”

“And all these books!” said the man, gesturing wildly. “You’re lucky this whole place didn’t go up!”

One of the other firefighters, a tall, intimidating-looking woman, laughed, cutting off the man’s tirade as she put a hand on his shoulder.

“You’ll have to excuse Fero here,” she said, “He just gets a little worked up about safety, especially when there’s someone he thinks is cute involved.”

“Who wouldn’t!” said Fero, “I mean, this guy, I guess.”

The woman laughed, ruffling Fero’s hair before she stepped away, to where one of the other firefighters was writing something out on a clipboard.

“Of course I care about safety,” said Lem, “And my  _ name _ is  _ Lem _ .”

“If you cared about safety maybe you shouldn’t leave all these candles lying around,” said Fero.

“It was an  _ accident _ ,” said Lem, irritation making its way up his throat.

“Who lights candles by accident?”

“I fell asleep by accident!” said Lem, “Of course I didn’t  _ light  _ them by accident!”

Surprisingly, Fero laughed, holding up his hands. “Okay, okay. But you really should take better precautions. I mean, if you’re going to light candles when you might fall asleep, maybe you should invite someone over to watch out.”

“That’s- I’m not doing that,” said Lem.

“You really should,” said Fero, “here, give me your phone.”

“What?” said Lem, “Why?”

“So I can give you my number,” said Fero, “then you can call me, next time you want to light a bunch of candles and then take a nap.”

“I- what?” said Lem. “Call you?”

“Yeah,” said Fero, “how else could you call me, without my number?”

Lem couldn’t really think of an answer to that. He handed over his phone, feeling more than a little as though he was getting tricked. Fero carefully typed out his number, his tongue caught between his teeth. Lem felt his cheeks flush and he looked away, carefully studying the streak of black that had made its way up one of his bookcases.

After a moment, Fero handed the phone back, a grin on his face.

Lem let out a laugh. “You’ve… put yourself in here as ‘hot fireman’.”

“Yeah, why?” said Fero, “How many other hot firemen do you have in there? I didn’t look.”

“You’re the first,” said Lem.

This time it was Fero’s turn to blush, pink spreading underneath the freckles across his cheeks. He rocked on his heels, fiddling with the helmet in his hands.

“Okay,” said Fero, “so-”

There was a whistle from the doorway.

“Fero, come on,” said the woman, “new call came through.”

Fero straightened, putting his helmet back on. He glanced back to Lem. “So, uh. Talk to you later?”

“Yes, I’ll- next time I think of lighting some candles, I’ll call you,” said Lem.

Fero laughed, hurrying out of Lem’s apartment and into the night.

Lem hadn’t really meant to call him after that. It was far too strange a thing. But then it had been later, and he’d been trying to clean off the black, ashy mark on the bookcase for the better part of half an hour, and frustration took over.

The line rang three times before Fero picked up. “Hey, hi, hello.”

“Uh, hi,” said Lem, his nerves returning in force, “I- this is Lem.”

“The- oh, candle guy! Hey!” said Fero. His grin was audible. “You’re not thinking of lighting more already are you?”

“No it’s- do you know how to get burn marks off of wood?”

“Why, what’d you burn now?”

Lem made a frustrated noise. “I didn’t- it’s from before, with the candles, I just can’t get the mark off my bookcase, and I thought you might know.”

Fero laughed. “I do know.”

Lem paused, waiting for a moment. “And?”

“Depends how deep the burn went.” Fero paused. “I could come over after work, take a look if you like.”

“I- well, I supposed, if it’s not too much trouble, of course,” said Lem, feeling his face flush.

“Nah,” said Fero, ”I do this kinda stuff all the time, so.”

“You… talk to people about burn marks all the time?”

“No,” said Fero, “but I do carpentry.” There was an alarm sound in the background. “Gotta go, but I’ll, uh- see you later?”

“Of course,” said Lem.

He hung up, looking at the burn mark and then back at his phone. That was… okay. So Fero would come over, later. That was fine. He was just helping, with the bookcase. He did carpentry.

Lem made himself a cup of tea, steadfastly determined not to look at either the time or the burn mark until Fero arrived. He lasted almost fifteen minutes before he got up, making an attempt at tidying the apartment (so Fero wouldn’t tease him about loose papers being everywhere, of course, he certainly wasn’t trying to impress him, or anything) before getting distracted by one of the books that was a the bottom of the pile of those he’d left on the coffee table - he’d been half-way through when he’d put it down a few months ago, and surely reading just a few chapters couldn’t hurt...

Fero arrived, bringing with him an enormous toolbox. He opened it with a flourish. Lem nodded at the array of tools and oils, hoping he seemed knowledgeable enough to get through this conversation.

It wasn’t as bad as he’d been expecting. Fero carefully examined the wood and, pronouncing the job to be easy, pulled Lem into a conversation about the work, then the bookcase itself, and then the books, nodding along as Lem told him about the book he’d rediscovered earlier that day, prompting Lem with questions, some of which seemed legitimate, and some of which Lem strongly suspected Fero was asking purely to tease him.

Under Fero’s smile, it was difficult to truly mind either line of questioning, and Lem was almost disappointed that the burn was so easily dispersed.

“I suppose I should thank you,” said Lem, “for coming all the way out here for this.”

“Yeah,” said Fero, “you probably should.”

Lem huffed a breath. “I- thank you.”

Fero shrugged, grinning up at him. “You’re welcome! Anyway, I do this kind of restoration work a lot, so.”

“Right,” said Lem.

“Right,” said Fero nodding.

They both looked at each other for a moment. There were words stuck on the tip of Lem’s tongue, and he would have said them, if only he knew what they were.

“So I… guess I’ll go?” said Fero.

“Yes?” said Lem.

Fero turned, leaning to gather his tools, clicking the toolbox shut.

Lem cleared his throat. “I, uh…”

Fero looked up.

“... let me walk you to the door?” said Lem.

Fero wrinkled his nose, huffing a breath of laughter. “Sure, okay.”

Unfortunately, Lem’s apartment was not really big enough for him to buy enough time to figure out what it was that he wanted to say. His hand hovered over the doorknob for a moment before he opened it, looking back at Fero. Fero looked right back, oddly patient.

“So,” said Lem, “I… thanks again.”

“Right,” said Fero, “like I said though, no problem.” He paused. “You- I mean, if you have any other problems, you have my number, right?”

“Yes,” said Lem, nodding for emphasis.

Fero nodded back, tucking his toolbox under his arm as he turned to leave.

“Wait!” said Lem.

Fero turned back. “Yeah?”

“I, um, the thing is, I-”

The words didn’t quite make it out, sticking instead in Lem’s throat and spurring him forward until he was pressing his lips to Fero’s in a clumsy kiss.

Fero’s toolbox dug into Lem’s side for a moment before Fero shifted, one hand reaching up to rest lightly on Lem’s shoulder, the heat of Fero’s hand sinking through the fabric. Lem let out a shaky breath against Fero’s lips, and Fero deepened the kiss for a moment before he leaned back. His fingers flexed on Lem’s shoulder.

“I- I wanted to say thank you,” said Lem, feeling his cheeks flare with heat.

“You… already did that,” said Fero.

“Yes, well,” said Lem, “just wanted to be clear.”

“Okay,” said Fero slowly, “but just so you know this is like, the least clear you’ve been so far.”

“I don’t think that’s fair,” said Lem, “I was just- anyway. Thank you. For your help. Goodbye.”

He very quickly closed the door behind him, holding his breath until he heard Fero walk back down the hallway. Lem raised a hand to his lips, feeling the tingle that Fero had left behind.

He still wasn’t entirely sure what the words he’d wanted to say had been. A week went by, and he still didn’t, but he  _ did _ feel like using his candles again, so he texted Fero a photo of them, set up in the centre of his kitchen table.

_ hottt fireman  _ 🔥🔥🔥 _ : dont make me come over there!!! _

  1. _King:_ I’m just giving you an update on the situation, as we agreed I would.



_ hottt fireman  _ 🔥🔥🔥 _ : u said ud b better abt safety!!!!! _

Lem wrinkled his nose, then grinned, typing his response.

  1. _King:_ I have lit several candles.
  2. _King:_ Perhaps I will take a nap.



_ hottt fireman  _ 🔥🔥🔥 _ : lem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! _

Lem looked around, setting up a pot on the stove and quickly filling it with water, sending Fero a photo of that too.

_ hottt fireman  _ 🔥🔥🔥 _ : THATS IT IM COMING OVER _

_ hottt fireman  _ 🔥🔥🔥 _ : U R A SAFETY NIGHTMARE _

Lem blinked at the message. Oh. Well. He should probably actually come up with a reason for the stove to be on.

He rummaged around in the cupboard, finding two packets of ramen noodles, chicken stock and something with a very faded labed that he was  _ pretty _ sure was miso paste. He set it boiling, pleased with his efforts.

Fero arrived a short while later, rushing so quickly into Lem’s apartment that Lem almost felt badly about his deception. This feeling lasted until Fero spoke, his hands on his hips as he surveyed Lem’s living room.

“Good to see it’s still standing,” said Fero.

“I told you,” said Lem, “I have everything under control.”

“And what about in here,” said Fero, heading to the kitchen.

“Well, as you can see I’m just making dinner.”

“Which is…” Fero eyed the ramen packets, peering into the bubbling pot. “Very shitty chicken noodle soup?”

“I’m making ramen,” said Lem, “obviously.”

“I think you’re missing about ten ingredients,” said Fero.

“I’m improvising,” said Lem, “Good cooks do that.”

“Bad ones, too,” said Fero.

He pulled open Lem’s fridge, rummaging around for a moment before he came out with some wilted herbs and some eggs.

“Maybe you should let me take over,” said Fero.

“This is  _ my _ dinner!”

“Well now it’s going to be  _ our _ dinner,” said Fero, “And I promise it’s going to taste better than old noodles floating in watery stock, or whatever it is you had going on here before I got here.”

Lem huffed a breath, folding his arms and leaning back against the counter as Fero moved around his kitchen.

“Don’t tell me,” said Lem, ”You’re a chef in your spare time too.”

“Nah,” said Fero, “but I was a line cook, for a while. You pick up things.”

“Right,” said Lem. He leant over Fero’s shoulder. “Oh, I didn’t know I had garlic.”

Fero laughed. “Well, now you do. Also, you should get more, because I’m about to use all of this.”

Annoyingly, the meal Fero made probably did taste better than Lem’s extremely improvised version.

“This is… nice,” said Lem.

Fero grinned. “Thanks! And uh, thanks for having me over, I guess.”

“Of course,” said Lem, “I don’t know that I’ve ever met someone so concerned for my safety.”

Fero’s cheeks flushed pink and he ducked his head. Lem fought the urge to reach out to tip Fero’s face back up. After all, he’d had all night to look at it, he didn’t need to.

But… he wanted to.

Lem swallowed, feeling heat flush his own cheeks at the thought. He stood up, awkwardly holding his plate. He paused by Fero, and Fero looked up at him. Fero wet his lips, opening his mouth and then closing it again.

“Uh,” Fero managed.

“I…” began Lem. “I’ll take your plate, if you’re finished?”

“Uh. Yeah. Um. Thanks?”

“You’re welcome,” said Lem.

Fero laughed, a loud, bright sound. Lem smiled.

He very carefully blew out the candles, setting the dishes next to the sink. When Lem stepped back out of the kitchen, Fero was standing, rocking back and forth on his heels as he had the day they’d met.

Lem swallowed. “Fero, I… Well. Thank you for coming.”

Fero nodded, tucking his hands into his pockets. “D’you wanna, uh. Walk me to the door?”

“I… suppose?”

Lem’s heart picked up speed the closer they got to the door. He felt very aware of Fero’s every move beside him, of the bare inches between them. They both paused by the closed door, turning to look at one another. Lem swallowed, his hands flexing at his sides. He couldn’t quite bring himself to reach for the doorknob just yet.

“Hey, Lem,” said Fero, “was this… I mean, this kind of felt like…”

Lem was sure that his heartbeat must be audible, it was beating so loud. “Like?”

“Like a date?” finished Fero, red cheeked.

Lem felt that he must look much the same. “I. Well. That is- If it were, would you- if this was a date, I mean-”

Fero reached up, his fingers clutching tightly in the front of Lem’s shirt as Fero pulled Lem down towards him. This kiss was as clumsy as their first, messier too as Lem flailed slightly before his hands found Fero’s shoulders to steady himself. Fero made a pleased noise against his lips, leaving one hand tangled in Lem’s shirt while the other slid around Lem’s waist, pulling him close.

In response, Lem turned so that Fero was against the door, making Fero gasp. Lem almost drew back but Fero chased after his lips, drawing Lem back into the kiss, coaxing him into deepening it. Lem felt the world narrow down to Fero underneath him, pressing closer until he got the fantastic idea to slide his hands under Fero, lifting him up so that their faces were level, which Fero seemed to be a fan of, given the enthusiastic noise he made in response, clutching tightly to Lem’s shoulder.

“So,” said Fero breathlessly, “Just to- Just to make totally sure, this  _ was _ a date?”

“I think so,” said Lem.

“Good,” said Fero firmly, and leant forward to kiss Lem again.

_ Good _ , thought Lem hazily,  _ fantastic, actually _ .

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi: mariusperkins on most places


End file.
